Drosophila araucan and caupolican integrate intrinsic and signalling inputs for the acquisition by muscle progenitors of the lateral transverse fate

• Published in: PLoS genetics 2011-07, Vol.7 (7), p.e1002186-e1002186
• Main Authors: Carrasco-Rando, Marta, Tutor, Antonio S, Prieto-Sánchez, Silvia, González-Pérez, Esther, Barrios, Natalia, Letizia, Annalisa, Martín, Paloma, Campuzano, Sonsoles, Ruiz-Gómez, Mar
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acquisitions & mergers; Animals; Animals, Genetically Modified; Base Sequence; Biology; Cell Line; Drosophila; Drosophila melanogaster - cytology; Drosophila melanogaster - embryology; Drosophila melanogaster - genetics; Drosophila Proteins - genetics; Drosophila Proteins - metabolism; Embryo, Nonmammalian - embryology; Embryo, Nonmammalian - metabolism; Gene expression; Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; Genetic aspects; Genomics; Homeodomain Proteins - genetics; Homeodomain Proteins - metabolism; In Situ Hybridization; Insects; Kinases; Microscopy, Confocal; Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases - metabolism; Muscle Development - genetics; Muscles - embryology; Muscles - metabolism; Nuclear Proteins - genetics; Nuclear Proteins - metabolism; Physiological aspects; Proteins; ras Proteins - metabolism; Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; Signal Transduction - genetics; Transcription Factors - genetics; Transcription Factors - metabolism; Zebrafish
• ISSN: 1553-7404; 1553-7390; 1553-7404
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1002186

A central issue of myogenesis is the acquisition of identity by individual muscles. In Drosophila, at the time muscle progenitors are singled out, they already express unique combinations of muscle identity genes. This muscle code results from the integration of positional and temporal signalling inputs. Here we identify, by means of loss-of-function and ectopic expression approaches, the Iroquois Complex homeobox genes araucan and caupolican as novel muscle identity genes that confer lateral transverse muscle identity. The acquisition of this fate requires that Araucan/Caupolican repress other muscle identity genes such as slouch and vestigial. In addition, we show that Caupolican-dependent slouch expression depends on the activation state of the Ras/Mitogen Activated Protein Kinase cascade. This provides a comprehensive insight into the way Iroquois genes integrate in muscle progenitors, signalling inputs that modulate gene expression and protein activity.